Shavua tov! For today’s update, I went to Tor.com and chose two new stories by authors I like (I’ve had one disappointment too many!). One of the stories was a hit, the other not so much, but you’ll see…

A Vector Alphabet of Interstellar Travel by Yoon Ha Lee (a Korean-American woman)

from Tor.com (Aug 10 2011)

A splendid science-fantasy short in the tradition of Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, a longtime favorite of mine. Writers of these sorts of “lists of unusual things” usually struggle with the ending. Yoon Ha Lee solves the problem amazingly well! This is truly a story (if it can even be called a story) that one with even the smallest inclination toward the poetic should read.

Judging from the author’s website, I’ve reviewed all three of her published stories this year. Conservation of Shadows was my favorite, with this one a close second, and Ghostweight a slightly more distant third. But they are all great works – my only concern is that people will nominate all three (I’ve seen a lot of support for each one) and thus the votes will be more divided than if there were one single standout story everyone could rally behind. Of course, I’m all for a consistently high level of literary output, but it does complicate decisions somewhat…

Hello, Moto by Nnedi Okorafor (a Nigerian-American woman)

from Tor.com (Nov 2 2011)

A tale about Nigerian women and the dangers of techno-magic. I’m a huge fan of Okorafor’s, but I can’t wholeheartedly endorse this story – I found the stance it took to be disappointing at best. “When you mix juju with technology, you give up control. You are at the will of something far beyond yourself.” I’m uncomfortable with the whole “magic is necessarily evil” idea, especially since it’s almost always presented in connection with indigenous magic, and Christian attempts to eradicate it (as in my native Hungary). Fortunately, this story doesn’t have any of the Christian proselytizing, but the stance is still similar.

(And if anything, magic is all about control – one attempts to exert control over the environment that goes beyond control achieved with non-magical means.)

Unfortunately, there is a major point I can only address in the spoiler section: Not another vampire story! Also, botched techno-magic turns people into “psychic vampires” and then “blood-sucking” vampires… [sic] OK, the techno-magic angle is new, but I am really tired of the Onoez, Evil Psi Vampire On the Loose trope. Could we possibly lay it to rest? Pretty please?

Jillian Tamaki also underperforms with the illustration. I love her art (the cover of Half World was by far the best part of the book), but she might not be a good match for Okorafor’s work, the styles are too different.

Still, I’d like to send this story to every Jewish woman with curly hair who wears a straight-hair sheitel!

…and LOL, I have a Motorola cell phone, though it doesn’t play that ringtone. It played something boring until I replaced the jingle with Mordin the Salarian singing (yeah, I know, totally unrelated to the review, but…):